Birth Control Sabotage – Submit Your Stories

January 17, 2008

In September, I covered a study published in Ambulatory Pediatrics in which young women were interviewed about intimate partner violence. Several of those interviewed reported that their partners had attempted to force them to become pregnant, sometimes through sabotaging their contraceptives (poking holes in condoms, flushing birth control, etc.).

The Family Violence Prevention Fund is launching a project to collect your stories of this little-discussed type of abuse, as a first step toward a broader awareness campaign on the issue. If you have a story to share, please consider the announcement below.

Have You Experienced Birth Control Sabotage? Share Your Story…

Holes poked in a condom. Flushed pill packets. A boyfriend’s sneer that
“Depo-Provera is for sluts.” Widespread but often silenced, women’s experiences
of birth control sabotage offer a prime example of how violence and abuse in
intimate relationships are linked with reproductive health and rights.

This September, a groundbreaking study by Dr. Elizabeth Miller of the Center for
Reducing Health Disparities revealed just how common the problem really is.
Miller found that a quarter of teenage girls with histories of abusive
relationships living in poor neighborhoods in Boston reported that their abusive
partners actively tried to get them pregnant by manipulating condom use,
sabotaging birth control, and making explicit statements about wanting them to
become pregnant.

Troubling stuff. And something that needs to be more openly discussed—both in
the women’s health community and in the wider national arena.

That’s where women like YOU enter the picture. The Family Violence Prevention
Fund (FVPF) is searching in a wide variety of venues for women who are willing
to share their personal experiences of birth control sabotage and other negative
attempts–no matter how seemingly “small”–to control their reproductive rights.

Have you ever had to hide your pills from your boyfriend or husband? Has your
intimate partner been verbally or emotionally manipulative about your birth
control choices? Have you ever been pressured into an abortion or an unintended
pregnancy? We want to hear your story, because we think it matters, and we
believe it can make a difference to women in similar situations.

Your stories can be emailed to safewomenstories@gmail.com. If you’d like to
share anonymously, let us know; if you’d prefer to take a more active role as a
spokeswoman, tell us that, too. We’re eager to hear your thoughts, experiences,
and ideas, and we think they’ll be a crucial part of this new effort to put a
widespread and serious problem on the public’s radar screen.

Los Angeles (January 11, 2008) – Just in Case Inc. the makers of the first high style, discreet condom compacts for women will donate 10,000 of their compacts to women’s Non- Profit Groups Nationwide. They are CALLING FOR ENTRIES this month. Two organizations from each state will be chosen to receive 100 JUST IN CASE® compacts each on National Condom Day, February 14th…Valentine’s Day.

The 10,000 compact give-away will help raise awareness that safer sex is sexy, and the time to practice safer sex is now.

Just in Case, Inc. is a mother/daughter owned corporation based in Los Angeles. They were compelled to respond to the alarmingly growing rate of teen pregnancy, STD’s, and HIV/AIDS cases and created a product that gives sexually active women a stylish reason to carry condoms. “We are offering with our products a sane solution for an insane situation,” says Bartenetti. “ Our product redefines personal care to include sexual health and with the skyrocketing number of teen pregnancies the time for our product is now.” “And let’s also remember the STD and AIDS factor in this, adds Sudul. “ Women are in sexual health crisis.” Just in Case, Inc. has made numerous donations to AIDS and Women’s health charities, like AIDS Healthcare Foundation and amFAR and continues to be an agent for change in this arena.

JUST IN CASE® compacts come with a mirror and hidden compartment that holds two condoms. Keeping style and discretion paramount in their designs JIC won the 2006 International Health and Beauty Packaging Award for Originality…and their unique compacts are catching on.
JUST IN CASE® can now be found in high-end retailers and hotels like the W in Chicago and New York, The Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas and Fred Segal in Los Angeles, among hundreds of boutiques throughout the US.

To name your favorite Non-Profit Women’s Organization please tell us who they are, who they serve, and why you believe they will benefit from 100 JUST IN CASE® compacts. Please include contact person, address and phone number. Send nominations to:info@justincaseinc.com

Nominations and the links to each of the winning organizations will appear on our special “Support A Cause” page on our website http://www.JustInCaseInc.com .

Teen awareness is definitely the best way to prevent more of these type of things. Teens are getting pregnant at younger ages now a days. My belief is that certain environmental factors are causing teens to go through puberty at younger ages.